During Richardson's time as General Secretary, there were significant battles over factional control of a number of inner city Labor branches.[14] Peter Baldwin, a Labor member of the Legislative Council and a member of the socialist-left faction, was bashed by unknown assailants in his home on 16 July 1980. Baldwin had earlier initiated inquiries into 'rorts' in the Enmore and other branches.[14][15] Police began investigation into the assault on Baldwin, and included matters relating to the affairs of the Labor Party Enmore branch. Five people, including Joe Meissner and Tom Domican were charged with various offences. Richardson, in a later interview, confirmed that at the time he wrote to Attorney-General Frank Walker and all other Cabinet Ministers in the Wran Government to ask that the case be dropped on the grounds that it was a Labor Party and not a police matter. Even the Magistrate, was approached. In dismissing the Enmore charges, the Magistrate said:[14]

It seems that some force or forces were working improperly to undermine the strength of the prosecution. I am firmly of the opinion that this matter calls for further investigation.

It was subsequently alleged by Meissner, who was at the time secretary of the Enmore branch of the Labor Party and one of the central figures in the controversy, that the bashing was undertaken by Domican, an underworld figure with close links to the right-wing faction of NSW Labor, acting on suggestions from Richardson.[15][20] Richardson, claiming the he had been defamed, commenced legal action that was eventually settled out of court in 2007 in Richardson's favour.[21]

Richardson groomed his successor for General Secretary, Stephen Loosley who took over in 1993 following Richardson's successful nomination for the Senate

....

Hawke's treatment of Richardson in 1990 would ultimately lead to Hawke's own downfall and Richardson's ability to manipulate numbers[27] in favour of Keating, albeit with initial reluctance.[37] Keating became Prime Minister in December 1991, and appointed Richardson to his coveted portfolio of Transport and Communications – earning the nickname, Minister for Channel Nine – due to his close relationship with media magnate, Kerry Packer.[15] Keating was content to have Richardson by his side, organising the Labor Right faction numbers; considering Richardson good in this role, but not necessarily suited to significant office.[38]

In 1992, Richardson was forced to resign his commission as Minister following revelations that he had used his position and influence to help his cousin, Gregory Symons, who was subsequently jailed for forging government documents relating to a migration scam. A judicial inquiry was necessary to resolve allegations of ministerial impropriety where it was alleged that Richardson attempt to help Symons avoid penalty.[39] Richardson sat out the remainder of this term of parliament on the backbench.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Richardson

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I would not be surprised that Richo being on the "right" wing of the Labor Party, would actually have done some bidding for the ritewingnuts Liberals (conservatives) at the time, as long as they were christians and had money... One also should remember his association with Rene Rivkin and others:

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In 2006, Richardson became embroiled in allegations of tax evasion involving the late Rene Rivkin.[45] On 27 September 2006, Justice James Allsop, of the Federal Court, released a document showing that Richardson had an undeclared Swiss bank account containing $1.4 million.[46] He was one of the shareholders of the Offset Alpine Printing company.

In October 2008, Richardson agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to end his ongoing A$2.3 million dispute with the Australian Taxation Office.[47] The Tax Office took action against Mr Richardson in 2005 after the late stockbroker Rene Rivkin told Swiss investigators that Rivkin, businessman Trevor Kennedy and Richardson were the secret owners of a $27 million stake in Offset Alpine. The Tax Office had sought $700,000 it claimed was owed in unpaid taxes, along with a $1.6 million interest and penalty payment.

see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offset_Alpine_fire

Human Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has criticised former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson for making money denigrating the party.

Mr Richardson speaks out against the party frequently and on the ABC's Q&A program last night he said Labor would be out office federally and in all states and territories by next year.

"In 2007, Labor governed everywhere; by 2012, we'll govern nowhere," he said.

Ms Plibersek hit back saying she hopes when she retires she does not make money trashing the party.

"I hope when I retire I never make a buck trashing the Labor Party," she said.

Mr Richardson also said that neither the Whitlam or Hawke governments would have considered the current Government's now failed plan to send asylum seekers to Malaysia.

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd launched a bitter attack on Mr Richardson, saying he is suffering from "relevance deprivation syndrome".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-25/plibersek-spat-with-graham-richardson/3598482

MEA culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! When Peter Slipper took the Speaker's chair, I thought it was a masterstroke. Andrew Wilkie had just left the fold and this brilliant tactical move made Wilkie irrelevant and minority government passably workable.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/graham-richardson

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Yes Graham ... and now you blast Julia some more for, wait for it..."DEFENDING Peter Slipper was a grave error of judgment"...Unless you're talking about your own judgement... 

Meanwhile, re-watch Julia's speech.. at no stage did our prime Minister defend Peter Slipper... The only thing our Prime Minister Julia Gilard did was not to give ratbag Abbott the gloat of having been the first politician in this country to boot a speaker of parliament (for extraneous business upon which a court case is still going on with no verdict so far) — Slipper being one of Tony's friends, Slipper who placed Tony in position of leader of the coaltion and Slipper who had been in the Liberal (conservative) party for more than 20 years — reelected umpteen times as a Liberal (conservative) member of parliament.

Yes, the error of judgement was made a long time ago BY LIBERAL (CONSERVATIVE) PRICKS...

As Julia Gillard said, she was repulsed by the text messages from Peter Slipper but a court case was in progress and watching Julia's speech, one had to know that the next thing coming up was Peter Slipper's resignation which he "humbly" did...

Richo, your mea culpa lines shows you're still a catholic little boy, wearing short pants and who never grew up beyond doing dirt files and build sand castles... Go play in the middle of the street...

See toon at top..

In the course of last week’s Crean Immolation, there was only one commentator who finished the day of chaos with a perfect record of prediction. That man was Graham Richardson, Labor’s own Talleyrand minus the stocking. For the entire day, nearly everything he said was wrong.

In the early afternoon, Richo told 2GB radio that there was no doubt Rudd would contest the leadership (wrong), that he would emerge from the room a slim victor (wrong). He kept this string of incorrectness unbroken until minutes before the afternoon deadline, insisting on Sky that Rudd would not ‘show his hand’ before the ballot (wrong). A lesser commentator might have accidentally strayed into fact when Rudd publicly ended his own leadership career moments later, but our star held his nerve. At dusk he was still insisting Rudd was playing “the long game”. So was Richo, and he had just gone misère.

He must have been surprised to see Gillard still standing - after all, she had outlasted his terminal electoral diagnosis by more than ten months. He had also forecast her doom in December 2011, February 2012, May 2012, August 2012, December 2012 and March 2013. At times he seemed to genuinely lose track of exactly what he was concocting – in January 2013 the ‘odds favoured’ Gillard remaining the PM until election, a month later he was offering those same odds in reverse, backing Rudd’s return at “60/40”. 

Anyone can see how often Graham Richardson is wrong, even Graham Richardson. “Alas, I am fallible” he wrote today by way of explanation. It’s not the first time he’s confronted his own record.

http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/richard-cooke/2013/03/28/1364440867/graham-richardson-psychic

See toon at top... One day some results will match his wafty predictions by chance and he will tell he was right all along... The cad...

ON SKYNEWS last week, two right-wing machine men of the Labor Party ‒ former Senator Graham Richardson from NSW and current Senator Stephen Conroy from Victoria ‒ launched a combined broadside against the new Labor leadership election rules. For 20 minutes, they raved and they ranted. Words like “chaos”, “farce” and “circus” were thrown around like confetti. By the end of it, you would have been forgiven for thinking that we were approaching the end of civilisation as we know it; that the idea of allowing ordinary Labor members a say in the leadership process was a recipe for certain disaster.

Well, the process has got under way this week, and it is already obvious that Richo and Conroy were dead wrong. What they couldn’t see was that their form of iron control of factional numbers was itself a major turn-off for many Labor supporters. Of course, during their strident diatribes, they failed to mention a fairly important couple of facts.

The most important of these facts was that though the ALP might look crazy brave on this matter, but it is, in fact, a follower rather than a leader — on this, as in so many other issues. The Labor parties in the UK and New Zealand have already gone down this path and there was no sign of those parties imploding as a result of the process. Quite the opposite, in fact, if opinion polls can be believed.

Interestingly, both Ed Milliband in the UK and David Cunliffe in New Zealand became leaders despite the fact that they did not gain majority support in their own parliamentary caucuses. Yet Labour did not self-destruct in either case. This outcome remains a strong possibility in Australia, too, because Albanese seems to have more popular support than Shorten, whereas Shorten is likely to still have the numbers in caucus.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/in-praise-of-the-new-labor-leadership-rules/

When will Richo take a holiday from his bile?... And not come back?... See toon and story at top... Should SkyNews be renamed SkyCrap?.... So many questions, so little care,  and oodles of opinions from the snakes who can't stop their venom from oozing...